List of Middle-earth animals

This is a list of all fictional animals that appear in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Under the Species heading, only those kinds that differ from real-world animals are included. In addition, this list encompasses several living creatures that were referred to at some point by Tolkien as being beast-shaped Maiar (angelic beings) rather than proper animals; such cases are annotated.

In Quenya, an Elven tongue devised by Tolkien, the general term for animals as distict from plants was kelvar.

Species

Crebain

A large species of crow that inhabited the land of Dunland during the Third Age. They were often used as servants and spies by various evil powers, notably Sauron. During the War of the Ring, a flock of crebain searched for the Ring-bearer.

Crebain make an appearance in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers; here they are controlled by the Wizard Saruman.

Fell beasts

Flying creatures that were used by the Nazgûl as steeds during the later parts of the War of the Ring. Tolkien only stated that they resembled birds, but had no plumage; otherwise, the fell beasts have been compared to pterosaurs, bats and wyverns.

Great Eagles

A race of eagles of outstanding size, believed to have been sent to Middle-earth and Númenor by Manwë. At different times, Tolkien proposed that they had been either Maiarin spirits or just highly intelligent animals.

Great Spiders

In The Hobbit, it is described that a colony of sapient and over-sized spiders lived in the northern parts of Mirkwood at the end of the Third Age. The Elves of Thranduil's realm tried to exterminate them, but with no avail. During the events of the book, Thorin's company was captured by a colony of spiders and enmeshed in webs; however, Bilbo Baggins managed to free them, with the aid of his sword Sting and magic ring.

The Lord of the Rings adds that these spiders were of the brood of Shelob and that they inhabited southern regions of Mirkwood as well. It is also suggested that the spiders first appeared after the Shadow fell on Mirkwood around .

Kine of Araw

Legendary white oxen that lived near the inland Sea of Rhûn, called thus by the men of Gondor who belived them to have been brought to Middle-earth by the Vala Oromë or Araw. Vorondil the Hunter made a horn of one of these beasts into a heirloom of the Stewards of Gondor. This horn was eventually owned by Boromir and was destroyed during the War of the Ring.

The Kine of Araw have been compared to aurochs.

Kirinki

One of the many species of birds found in Númenor that were not known in Middle-earth. The kirinki are said to have been smaller than wrens, with scarlet feathers and "piping voices on the edge of human hearing".

Mûmakil

A race of animals that lived in the lands of Harad (South), resembling elephants but much larger and said to have been its ancestors. The mûmakil were used by the Haradrim both as beasts of burden and in warcraft, most prominently during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Wargs

A race of wolves that was particularly evil-natured and usually in alliance with Orcs. Sometimes described as "demonic wolves", they appear in The Lay of Leithian, The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring.

Individual animals

Carc

An intelligent raven that lived upon the Ravenhill beneath the Lonely Mountain in the days of King Thrór. He and his wife nested above the guard-chamber there, and became such a "wise and famous pair" that they lent the name to the hill.

Carcharoth

The "mightiest of all wolves", bred by Morgoth and set to guard the gates of Angband. He bit off Beren's hand together with the Silmaril and was maddened by its touch. Carcharoth was slain by Huan, but not before he managed to wound mortally both the hound and Beren.

Draugluin

A werewolf in the service of Sauron in the First Age. Draugluin was sent to slay Lúthien when she came to Tol-in-Gaurhoth, but was slain by Huan.

Huan

A hound that was brought by Celegorm from Valinor, considered by Tolkien to have been either a beast-shaped Maia or a common animal that had been told to speak by the Valar. Huan forsook the service of Celegorm in order to help Lúthien with the Quest of the Silmaril; eventually he and the great wolf Carcharoth slew each other.

Roäc

The son of Carc the raven, born in . By the time of the Quest of Erebor organised by Thorin II Oakenshield, Roäc had become the leader of the great ravens of the Lonely Mountain, although it is stated that "he was getting blind, he could hardly fly, and the top of his head was bald." With his and his flock's help, Thorin's company gathered news and communicated with Dáin II Ironfoot before the Battle of Five Armies.

Shelob

An "evil thing in spider form" that dwelt beneath the Pass of Cirith Ungol on the borders of Mordor. During the events of The Lord of the Rings, she attacked the Ring-bearer Frodo Baggins who was passing through her lair, but she was withstood by Sam Gamgee.

Shelob is stated to have been the "last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world"; of Ungoliant's nature Tolkien had not provided any precise definition, noting that she entered the world from the Void and implying apparently that she was one of the Ainur.

Watcher in the Water

A mysterious creature with tentacles appearing in The Lord of the Ring. Shortly before the end of the First Age, it lived in a lake before the West-door of Moria, and attacked the Company of the Ring during the events of the book. Later writers have compared it to legendary Kraken and giant squids.

See also

  • Bestiary of Middle-earth
  • Fastitocalon
  • Gorcrows
  • List of Middle-earth plants
  • Quenya and Sindarin wordlists at Wiktionary, which include Elvish names devised by Tolkien for real-word animals